Christmas Theatre Guide 2026: Our live guide to theatre, events and colourful family shows this festive season

Join us as we explore some unmissable festive theatre treats for all ages this Christmas, from adult and kids’ pantomimes to colourful family shows, alternative festive fun, West End spectaculars and fabulous regional theatre delights. This is a live events list updated weekly through to December 11.

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Produced by Park Theatre and Adam Blanshay Productions, the production reunites the team behind last year’s Christmas hit Dracapella. Following a sell-out run in Chicago, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley receives its UK premiere, directed by Sarah Meadows.

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From the writer of the seasonal classic A Christmas Carol, these lesser-known festive tales come to vivid life in a fast-paced new production featuring Dickens’ characteristic wit, imagination, and larger-than-life characters. Audiences can expect frenetic multi-roling, fast-paced laughs and plenty of Christmas spirits.

The production comes from Maybe You Like It, whose previous work has earned an Off West End Assessor’s Choice Award and recognition as one of The Independent’s Gems of Edinburgh Fringe 2024.

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Written by Jonny Donahoe, co-creator and performer of the Olivier-nominated Every Brilliant Thing, comic sequel A Christmas Carol Continues satirises exploitative landlords and draws sharp parallels between Victorian inequality and today’s housing crisis.

Set seven years after the original ghostly intervention, the story follows Ebenezer Scrooge, who remains a good man and a positive force in his community. However, his social position remains unchanged: a wealthy landlord and moneylender whose business holds financial control over those around him. When Christmas Eve rolls around once more, Jacob Marley and the ghosts return with unfinished business for Ebenezer, showing him that personal kindness alone does not change the impact of systemic wealth. Written with Conor O’Toole and directed by Jess Edwards, this playful festive offering keeps the evocative, snow-laced setting of the traditional Victorian Christmas, with a sharp nod to today’s world.

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Daisy LOVES Christmas! She can’t wait for all the festive fun to begin, and this year is extra special because she’s in the school Christmas play with SEVEN whole words to learn.

But when Daisy and her best friend Gabby decide the Baby Jesus doll isn’t quite right, they come up with a plan that can only lead to trouble. Based on Kes Gray’s much-loved DAISY AND THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS, this brilliantly funny adventure is full of Christmas chaos for children and their grown-ups.

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The full line-up has been announced for The Actors House Christmas Songbook, presented by Olivier Award-winning Matt Henry MBE (The Devil Wears Prada), raising vital funds to support touring actors and creatives across the UK.

For one spectacular night, The Actors House is bringing together 12 celebrated musical theatre stars to perform beloved West End hits and festive classics.

Joining Henry, Beverley Knight MBE, Jess Folley and Oliver Tompsett, are some of musical theatre’s biggest names: Kerry Ellis, Divina De Campo, Carly Mercedes Dyer and Declan Bennett.

Henry will also be reunited with four of his former The Devil Wears Prada co-stars, Amy Di Bartolomeo, Georgie Buckland, Keelan McAuley and Tosh Wanogho-Maud, for a show-stopping festive celebration.

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Starring McFly’s Harry Judd as Coach Bolton and original film star KayCee Stroh as Ms Darbus. This joyful, high-energy, nostalgia-filled musical packed with iconic songs like Breaking Free, We’re All In This Together and Getcha Head In The Game, follows basketball captain Troy Bolton (Tobias Turley) and new student Gabriella Montez (Leonor Correia) as they challenge expectations by auditioning for the school musical against drama club royalty Sharpay and Ryan Evans (Caitlin Tipping & Luke Bayer).

Can they break the Status Quo and teach their classmates that they don’t have to fit into just one box? The production features a vibrant basketball court-inspired set at both venues, with audience seating extending onto the stage to immerse audiences in the world of East High.

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The team behind the sell-out sensation Sophie’s Surprise 29th brings you the wildest Christmas party of the season – and you’re invited.

There’s just one problem: Sophie has lost her Christmas spirit. And there’s only one way to get it back… by throwing her the most outrageous festive party imaginable. But this isn’t your average Christmas do.

Each night, one lucky audience member will be chosen to become Sophie – the guest of honour at the centre of the action. Along the way, expect visits from the craziest Christmas characters you’ve ever seen. The ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future will appear, but not as you’ve seen them before, alongside a whole host of wild and wonderful seasonal guests. We’ve thawed Mariah Carey from her slumber; there’s a stripping Scrooge on the loose, and who knows – you might even get the chance to sit on Santa’s lap.

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Join Peter and Wendy on an awfully big adventure in a quest to never grow up. Joined by the mischievous Lost Boys and feisty fairy Tink, can they work together to defeat the formidable Captain James Hook, who’s determined to take Peter’s sword and rule over Neverland once and for all?

From the creative minds behind ‘Pied Piper’ and Polka’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’, comes a magical family musical adventure, packed with original songs performed live by a company of award-winning vocalists, beatboxers, and rappers.

Find your courage, choose your happy thought, and learn what it means to grow up – or not!

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What starts as a morning jog becomes quite the misadventure for Stick Man: a dog wants to play fetch with him, a swan builds a nest with him, and he even ends up on a fire! How will Stick Man ever get back to the family tree in time for Christmas?

The cast bringing Julia Donaldson’s Stick Man to life in London will be: Wills Mercado as ‘Stick Man’, Lalany Samuel makes her professional debut as ‘Stick Lady Love’, Liam Bradbury as ‘Actor Muso’ and Erin Rowlett as a Swing.
The cast for Sheffield are: Sam Makepeace-Beach as ‘Stick Man’, Freya Stephenson as ‘Stick Lady Love’, Toby Baddeley as ‘Actor Muso’, and Rosie Malone returns as a Swing and Resident Director.

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Following last year’s sold-out Edinburgh Festival run, Club NVRLND, the immersive nightclub phenomenon, will transfer to The Vaults. Conceived and directed by Steven Kunis, with a book by Olivier Award-winning Jack Holden, Club NVRLND is a high-energy immersive musical that transforms The Vaults into Peter Pan’s underground nightclub, where audiences become part of the party, revelling in nostalgia, exhilaration and youthful abandon.

Set to the biggest 2000s anthems by legends including Britney Spears, Rihanna, P!nk, Outkast, Coldplay and many more, audiences are invited to leave their worries at the door and lose themselves on the dancefloor! Starring Dianna Vickers as Wendy Darling, Le Fil as Tiger Lily, George Renshaw as Peter Pan, Ceili O’Connor as Tink, Matthew Gent as Hook and Peter Caulfield as The Crocodile, with Becky Bassett, Damian Buhagiar, Max James Hodge, Joshua De La-Garde, Elinor Morris, Ashley-Jordon Packer, Appolilly Szwarc and Natalie Yin.

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Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, London’s huge annual festive fairground and Christmas festival, takes over Hyde Park for six weeks in the run-up to Christmas and New Year. This December, it will feature a magical sing-along concert of beloved festive songs at a purpose-built, fully immersive 1,000-seat ‘Candlelight Arena’ within Hyde Park Winter Wonderland’s ‘Show Town.’ Featuring performances from some of the West End’s brightest stars, including Rachel John, Dean John-Wilson, Katie Hall and Tosh Wanogho-Maud.

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This outrageously gay, adults-only fairytale swaps royal courts for tennis courts and fairy godmothers for fortune tellers, with plenty of saucy surprises along the way. Reuniting with company favourites Matthew Baldwin and Chris Lane, the production stars Laura Anna-Mead as hotel maid Cindy, alongside Matt Kennedy as Buttons, her only friend and soon-to-be deepest rival. With mistaken identities, gangster agendas, and raucous romance thrown into the mix, this is one fairytale that’s well and truly playing dirty!

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King’s Head Theatre’s adults-only pantomime returns for a third year, starring RuPaul’s Drag Race UK favourites Victoria Scone and River Medway. This cheeky, drag-filled twist on the classic tale features outrageous comedy, plenty of innuendo and special guest stars from the worlds of musical theatre and drag

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Dick Whittington journeys to London in search of fame and fortune with his trusty cat, but the city is overrun with rats. This festive family pantomime features show-stopping musical numbers, toe-tapping tunes and plenty of laughs.

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Winner of Best Script and Best Pantomime at the UK Pantomime Awards 2025, this year’s production is written and performed by Greenwich Theatre Legend Anthony Spargo, who will be stepping into the shoes of pantomime Dame Dotty Trott, Jack’s eccentric mother.

The show will also star the incredible Sam Bailey as the hero Jack Trott alongside Eleanor Fransch as magical fairy helper Bumpkin. Paul Critoph will play Sheriff Sprocket, Lydia Bell will play his daughter, Jill Sprocket, and Georgia Grant will play Fleshcreep, the giant’s evil tax collector.

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Wirral’s best pantomime is back, bringing thrills, magic and a joyful family experience this Christmas – guaranteed!

If you’ve wished for a memory-making experience that pulls out all the stops to wow its audience, step into the enchanted world of Aladdin, where a humble boy discovers a mystical lamp that unlocks unimaginable power – and a journey of danger, love, and laughter unfolds.

With a star-studded cast led by BAFTA-winning Raven host James Mackenzie as the villainous Abanazar, Aladdin also stars much-loved panto favourite Sean Jones, returning for his seventh year at Floral Pavilion as Wishee Washee, Blackpool radio star and panto comic Scott Gallagher as Widow Twankey, rising West End leading man James-Royden Lyley as Aladdin, and SIX sensation Yna Montarde as Princess Jasmine.

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More Coming Soon

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